Systems and methods according to the present invention relate generally to building construction materials and construction methods, and more particularly to flooring systems employing natural wood, either solid natural wood or including a natural wood veneer.
Presently, most hardwood (e.g., oak, maple, hickory, etc.) flooring provided to a jobsite for either do-it-yourselfers or even professional installers suffers from at least one of two deficiencies, namely, surface height variation and/or finish. Either of these deficiencies can lead to further required expenditures to complete a uniform installation.
A deficiency of surface height variation is indicated by adjacent boards forming an offset lip defined by a height difference between an untreated top surface of one board and an untreated top surface of an adjacent board. Such lips may be caused by a variation in overall plank thickness of adjacent boards and/or variation of partial plank thicknesses caused by mating constructs (e.g., tongue and groove, overlapping, or click) of adjacent boards.
A deficiency in finish may be indicated by relatively rough surfaces having a noticeably high coefficient of friction, as further explained below, or stained and/or protected surfaces. A problem with stained flooring presented to a jobsite is that there is a chance that the stain shade of presented stained flooring may not match existing stained flooring. A problem with protected flooring is that a desired sheen may not have been achieved.
To accommodate prior flooring exhibiting thickness variation, flooring installers would normally secure flooring planks to flooring joists or underlayment. Immediately after securing the flooring planks, offset lips at one or more places along the exposed flooring surface are usually detected. To substantially eliminate the offset lips, significant surface treatment, such as sanding, was required.
Significant surface treatment (e.g. sanding) was also used to accommodate prior flooring planks exhibiting undesirable rough surface characteristics. Regarding stain color and protectant sheen, if the product delivered to a jobsite does not meet expectations, either additional finishing efforts were required, or entirely new product would need to be ordered, thus causing delay in job completion.
Accordingly, the art of flooring installation, and especially flooring installation adjoining a preexisting wood floor at a jobsite, could benefit from systems and methods related to supplying untreated (e.g., unstained) but more precise flooring planks with hardwood top surfaces.